Bob Lilley’s Pittsburgh Riverhounds are up next for Louisville City on the heels of their Tulsa draw. Pit and LouCity last saw each other in Lynn Family Stadium in late April, with first in the East Louisville topping the number two Riverhounds. Louisville enters this one on tired legs with a mixed bag of results over their previous few outings. With the regular season creeping to its end, this matchup could be quite meaningful for LouCity’s aspirations.
The Riverhounds sit in 5th in the East with 1.6 goals for and 1.1 goals against per match (both 10th). They slipped down the table as the season progressed, but were really never in danger of missing the playoffs. Similar to LouCity, they are consistently solid. City beat them last time, but now they will have the benefit of playing at home against a tired Morados.
Keep an eye on Russell Cicerone, Kenardo Forbes, and Alex Dixon. Cicerone, a former St Louis FC player, leads his team with 12 goals with 1.0 shots on target per 90 (3rd), and six big chances created (3rd). Forbes, a long-time Riverhound and USL legend, leads his team in assists (as usual) with nine with 67 created chances (1st). He also leads the team in average player rating with 7.42. Dixon has four goals and seven assists (3rd) with 39 chances created (2nd), 11 big chances (2nd), and 2.2 shots per 90 (3rd). He comes in at number three for average player rating (7.30).
It’ll be a close one according to FiveThirtyEight. A 38% chance for Louisville and a 33% chance for Pittsburgh. As stated earlier, this one is likely to be very meaningful for LouCity’s chances to win the East as well as the regular season title. Let’s go ahead and call it a must-win or else the regular season crown may likely slip away and first in the East become a VERY tight contest with the Rowdies. Let’s just get a win and help to secure our spot! Vamos Morados!
Parting Thoughts
Want to do a little more reading on LouCity? I suggest the following:
Be sure to check out the Vamos Morados Podcast featuring me, Benton, and Zach Allen-Kelly. It’s available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Audible, and Spotify. Everything you need to listen can be found on the Podcast page. Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!
We also host Soccer City Radio on Thursday's from 6:00-7:00 PM EST on ESPN 680/105.7
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